Forage Harvester Comprising Blower Drum With Enhanced Axial Flow
A forage harvester configured for chopping harvested crops and producing a stream of chopped crop material. The harvester includes a rotatable blower drum mounted in a blower housing, for propelling the stream of crop material into an outlet duct of the harvester. The blower drum has an open structure which allows a flow of air in the axial direction of the drum. The blower drum is mounted between two sidewalls of the blower housing, at least one of the sidewalls comprising one or more air inlet openings. The harvester further includes at least one set of axial flow turbine blades, mounted between the blower drum and one or both of the sidewalls of the blower housing, the blades being rotatable about the blower drum's rotation axis.
The present invention is related to forage harvesters used in agriculture for cutting crops, and in particular to a blower system for evacuating the crops from the harvester.
STATE OF THE ARTSelf-propelled forage harvesters comprise a header which cuts crops from the field and feeds them towards a cutting drum, where the crops are chopped into smaller pieces. These chopped materials are evacuated from the harvester by a blower. Most harvester types comprise a cylinder-shaped blower drum mounted transversally with respect to the product stream, and provided with paddles or plates on the outer surface of the drum. The plates or paddles of the rotating drum propel the crop towards an outlet duct. Depending on the type and condition of the crop, the acceleration that is imparted on the crop material may be insufficient for effectively evacuating the crop from the harvester.
Systems are known for enhancing the momentum of the crop material as it is ejected from the blower. One solution that has been documented, for example in EP-A-1275291, is the addition of radial ventilator blades on the side walls of the blower drum to create lateral air streams which aid the flow of the crop material towards the outlet duct. Another approach is the use of a blower drum with an open structure and mounted in a housing with laterally disposed inlet openings. The rotation of the drum generates a flow of air between these inlet openings and the outlet duct, said air flow enhancing the momentum of the crops being ejected through the duct. Both solutions have the disadvantage however that the auxiliary air flow is concentrated mostly in the lateral areas of the product stream, so that the propulsion of material does not take place in a uniform manner. In addition, a more pronounced acceleration of material in the lateral areas causes friction losses in the outlet duct.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe invention is related to a forage harvester and to a blower drum for a forage harvester as described in the appended claims. The invention is in particular related to a forage harvester configured for chopping harvested crops and producing a stream of chopped crop material, the harvester comprising a blower drum mounted in a blower housing and rotatable about a rotation axis oriented transversally with respect to the stream of crop material, for propelling the stream of crop material into an outlet duct of the harvester, wherein the blower drum has an open structure which allows a flow of air in the axial direction of the drum, and wherein the blower drum is mounted between two sidewalls of the blower housing, at least one of the sidewalls comprising one or more air inlet openings, characterised in that the harvester comprises at least one set of axial flow turbine blades, mounted between the blower drum and one or both of the sidewalls of the blower housing, the blades being rotatable about the blower drum's rotation axis.
The blades are configured to direct a flow of air in the axial direction of the blower drum, i.e. from the one or more inlet openings in the sidewalls of the housing towards a central area of the drum. Compared to the existing systems described above, this means that the air flow is enhanced as well as being better guided towards the centre of the drum before being ejected through the outlet duct, so that the flow of air that is driving the crop material is more distributed along the width of the blower drum and outlet duct.
Preferred embodiments will now be described with reference to the drawings. The detailed description is not limiting the scope of the invention, which is defined only by the appended claims.
In a harvester according to the invention, the blower drum 8 is a drum with an open structure as described above. In addition, the harvester is provided with at least one and preferably two sets of turbine fans configured to enhance the flow of air in the axial direction inside the open drum structure.
A number of constructional details shown in the drawings are described hereafter, but are not limiting the scope of the invention. As seen in
According to an embodiment of the invention, the turbine blades 20 have the additional function of cleaning the inlet openings 26 in the side walls 24 of the blower housing. This may be done by mounting the blades 20 so that their outer edge is as close as possible to the side walls 24, so that any crop material that obstructs the inlet openings 26 is scraped away by the edges of the rotating blades 20. According to another embodiment, the blades 20 are not as close to the side walls 24 as in the previously described embodiment, but one or more blades 20 is provided with scrapers or brushes which do extend close to the side walls 24, and thereby have the same cleaning effect.
According to an embodiment, the turbine blades 20 are pivotable and positionable at a plurality of angular positions about their longitudinal axis, so as to change the inclination of the blades with respect to a vertical plane perpendicular to the drum's rotation axis 15. This feature also allows to control the axial air flow independently from the rotation of the blower drum 8. This feature can be combined with the embodiment wherein the blades 20 are uniform with the drum 8 as well as with the embodiment wherein the blades 20 are capable of rotating about axis 15 independently from the drum 8.
Although it is clearly advantageous to provide turbine blades 20 on both sides of the blower drum 8, as shown in the drawings, a blower drum provided with blades 20 on one side only is not excluded from the scope of the invention.
The invention is preferably related to a self-propelled forage harvester 1 as illustrated in
The invention is equally related to a blower drum 8 as described above, provided with axial flow turbine blades 20 on one or both sides of the drum, i.e. uniform with the drum.
Claims
1. A forage harvester configured for chopping harvested crops and producing a stream of chopped crop material, the harvester comprising:
- an outlet duct;
- a blower housing comprising two sidewalls, at least one of the two sidewalls comprising one or more air inlet openings;
- a blower drum mounted in the blower housing between the two sidewalls and rotatable about a rotation axis oriented transversally with respect to the stream of crop material, for propelling the stream of crop material into the outlet duct; and
- at least one set of axial flow turbine blades, mounted between the blower drum and one or both of the two sidewalls of the blower housing, the at least one set of axial flow turbine blades being rotatable about the rotation axis of the blower drum, wherein the blower drum has an open structure which allows a flow of air in the axial direction of the drum.
2. The harvester according to claim 1, wherein the at least one set of turbine blades is uniform with the blower drum, so that the blades rotate together with the drum as a single body.
3. The harvester according to claim 2, wherein the blower drum comprises paddles for propelling the crop material towards the outlet duct, and wherein the paddles extend laterally outward between the turbine blades.
4. The harvester according to claim 1, wherein the at least one set of turbine blades is configured to rotate independently from the blower drum.
5. The harvester according to claim 1, wherein the at least one set of turbine blades is mounted in close proximity to the one or more air inlet openings, so as to be able to remove crop material that obstructs the one or more air inlet openings.
6. The harvester according to claim 1, wherein at least one of at the least one set of turbine blades is provided with a scraper or brush configured to remove crop material that obstructs the one or more inlet openings.
7. The harvester according to claim 1, wherein the at least one set of turbine blades is positionable at a plurality of angular positions about its longitudinal axis, in order to change the inclination of the blades with respect to a plane perpendicular to the rotation axis of the blower drum.
8. (canceled)
9. (canceled)
10. (canceled)
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 3, 2018
Publication Date: Mar 26, 2020
Inventor: Bram Willem (Woumen Houthulst)
Application Number: 16/483,615